Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Marqeta, Inc. (NASDAQ:MQ)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $6.00 to $5.00. The stock had previously closed at $4.16, but opened at $3.80. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Marqeta shares last traded at $3.9710, with a volume of 1,966,953 shares trading hands.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MQ. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Marqeta from $6.00 to $5.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $4.50 price objective (down from $8.00) on shares of Marqeta in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Marqeta in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wolfe Research cut Marqeta from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Marqeta in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $6.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Marqeta has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $5.22.

Insider Activity at Marqeta

In related news, Director Jason M. Gardner sold 113,366 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $566,830.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 303,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,517,335. This represents a 27.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 218,509 shares of company stock valued at $1,092,545. Company insiders own 12.61% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Marqeta

Here are the key news stories impacting Marqeta this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates — Marqeta reported roughly break‑even EPS (beat consensus) and revenue of $172.11M (up ~26.7% y/y), showing continued top‑line growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: FY‑2026 revenue guide came in above Street consensus — Marqeta issued FY revenue guidance of roughly $699.9M–$712.4M, higher than the consensus shown by analysts. That supports the view of continued revenue acceleration. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational momentum: management highlighted record TPV and growth in BNPL and embedded‑finance demand on the call, indicating sustained platform usage and customer traction. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Detailed disclosures available — full earnings call transcript and slide deck give line‑by‑line metrics for investors to model customer cohorts, TPV mix and margin drivers. Read More. | Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst writeups and metric comparisons are being published today; these will help reconcile headline beats with underlying KPIs (merchant mix, TPV per customer, margins). Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley cut its price target from $6.00 to $5.00 and moved to an “equal weight” rating — a near‑term negative signal for sentiment and potential selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Q1 revenue guide came in slightly below consensus ($162.7M–$165.5M vs. ~$167.2M), which likely drove the immediate sell‑off despite the quarterly beat. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Profitability remains a concern — the company still shows a negative net margin and negative return on equity, keeping investor focus on when scale will translate to sustained GAAP profits. Read More.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marqeta

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Marqeta by 193.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,360,309 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,510,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554,741 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in Marqeta by 272.3% during the second quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 520,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,037,000 after purchasing an additional 381,016 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Marqeta in the second quarter worth approximately $4,057,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in Marqeta in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $460,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Marqeta during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,463,000. 78.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Marqeta Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -48.31 and a beta of 1.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.98.

Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported $0.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $172.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $167.05 million. Marqeta had a negative return on equity of 4.22% and a negative net margin of 6.74%.Marqeta’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.05) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Marqeta, Inc. will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Marqeta

Marqeta is a modern card issuing and payment processing platform that enables businesses to design, launch and manage customized payment cards. The company offers a fully programmable open API that allows clients to create virtual, physical and tokenized payment cards with real-time transaction controls and dynamic spend limits. By leveraging Marqeta’s infrastructure, companies can streamline their payment operations, reduce time to market and deliver tailored payment experiences to end consumers.

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Oakland, California, Marqeta was established by CEO Jason Gardner with the goal of transforming traditional card issuance through cloud-native technology.